‘A Powerful and Essential Means of Action’: UNESCO and the Humanities as Science Diplomacy (1945–1949)

This article explores how the humanities were imagined by UNESCO to contribute to their quest for improved international relations and worldwide peace. It analyses the negotiations on what role the humanities could play in diplomatic work by looking at the process that led to the founding of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (ICPHS/CIPSH) in 1949. Despite being ingrained in UNESCO's mission statement, the diplomatic role of the humanities remained unarticulated and ambiguous during the organizations’ first formative years. The article argues that although the term was not in use at the time, what was in fact at stake during these negotiations was whether linguistics, classical studies, history, anthropology and philosophy could be seen as a form of – and be employed as – science diplomacy. Despite a global contemporary focus as well as a surge in historical studies, the humanities have largely been excluded from both political and scholarly efforts on science diplomacy. By introducing a framework for humanities diplomacy and by proposing a preliminary set of questions for its historical study, the article urges a renewed focus on the diplomatic role played by the humanities in the past, addressing what role they could play in the future.